Trustworthy Men : How Inequality and Faith Made the Medieval Church / Ian Forrest.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forrest, Ian, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trust--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Church polity.

Trust.

England.

England--Church history--1066-1485.

Genre:

Church history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (521 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The medieval church was founded on and governed by concepts of faith and trust--but not in the way that is popularly assumed. Offering a radical new interpretation of the institutional church and its social consequences in England, Ian Forrest argues that between 1200 and 1500 the ability of bishops to govern depended on the cooperation of local people known as trustworthy men and shows how the combination of inequality and faith helped make the medieval church.Trustworthy men (in Latin, virifidedigni) were jurors, informants, and witnesses who represented their parishes when bishops needed local knowledge or reliable collaborators. Their importance in church courts, at inquests, and during visitations grew enormously between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The church had to trust these men, and this trust rested on the complex and deep-rooted cultures of faith that underpinned promises and obligations, personal reputation and identity, and belief in God. But trust also had a dark side. For the church to discriminate between the trustworthy and untrustworthy was not to identify the most honest Christians but to find people whose status ensured their word would not be contradicted. This meant men rather than women, and-usually-the wealthier tenants and property holders in each parish. Trustworthy Men illustrates the ways in which the English church relied on and deepened inequalities within late medieval society, and how trust and faith were manipulated for political ends.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations and Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

PART I. LATE MEDIEVAL CULTURES OF TRUST

CHAPTER 1. Theology: Belief in God

CHAPTER 2. Law and Agreements: A World Made from Promises

CHAPTER 3. Identity and Emotion: Faith in the Heart

PART II. IDENTIFYING THE TRUSTWORTHY MEN

CHAPTER 4. The Emergence of the Trustworthy Men

CHAPTER 5. Bishops Describe Trustworthiness

CHAPTER 6. Very Local Elites

PART III. TRUSTWORTHINESS AND INEQUALITY IN THE PARISH

CHAPTER 7. Representing the Community?

CHAPTER 8. Time, Place, and the Limits of Trustworthy Status

CHAPTER 9. Face-to-Face with the Trustworthy Men

PART IV. BISHOPS AND A CHURCH BUILT ON INEQUALITY AND FAITH, 1250- 1500

CHAPTER 10. Practical epistemology

CHAPTER 11. Other People's Money

CHAPTER 12. The Material Church

CHAPTER 14. Subtle Judgements

The Church Built on Trust

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-489) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

ISBN:

9781400890132

1400890136

OCLC:

1132672155